County finalizes water agreement with Anson

Union County commissioners took the first step toward solving the water problems Monday, Nov. 1, as they approved a contract extension with Anson County. Currently the county has an agreement allowing purchase of up to four million gallons a day. To help ease the growing water needs in eastern Union County, commissioners from both sides agreed to an increase from 30 to 40 million gallons a month taken from Anson at the end of Phase I construction. By the project’s completion in the next five years, that number will climb again to $60 million.

“We’ve been in negotiation with Anson County for the better part of a year now,” Public Works Director Ed Goscicki said. “We recognizer that water from Anson County is a critical part of our long term supply.”

In order to supply the extra water, Anson County has to make an estimated $6.2 million adjustment to their infrastructure, installing larger pipes and doing repair work. Under the terms of the contract, Union agreed to pay 33 percent of that cost, or $2.05 million.

Right away, the deal makes an additional one million gallons of capacity available for use.

“This has been a long time coming and I’m glad to see it pay off,” county commissioner Lanny Openshaw said.